Psalms 91

Cleaning House

When we moved to Mexico we put a few of our “most cherished items” in my in-laws attic. A few years ago, I decided to go through those plastic tubs. To my surprise most of their contents, I either threw out or gave away. The things we once thought we couldn’t live without no longer held our affection.

Lately, we’ve been cleaning out our house. Unfortunately the more we clean, the more unnecessary items we discover. It’s amazing what lurks in the tops of closets, on book shelves, in kitchen cabinets and especially in the laundry room. I have collections of the oddest things: old jars, magazines, water bottles, kitchen gadgets, half used make-up, old CDs, & scraps of paper.
Our girls cleaned out their rooms and each threw away 2 large bags of trash. We gave away another 8 bags of clothing and shoes. (Yes, count them, eight bags!) One day I went through our bathroom. I threw away old makeup, nail polish and to my chagrin, medicine that had expired in 2012.
How did our house get so out of hand? I don’t remember buying any of these items, and I especially don’t remember how they took up permanent residence with us. For Pete’s sake, how did we not realize this before now? All this stuff arrived under the radar and has remained there for quite some time.
Now it’s a long painstaking process to get rid of all these treasures. And honestly, I feel like we’ve just scratched the surface of what really needs to go.
All this cleaning has gotten my attention! It makes me wonder, what other things have taken up residence in my life: bad habits, ungodly attitudes, unforgiveness, judgmental thoughts.

Things I also don’t remember “buying”, but are now unequivocally mine. Wonder what other gems I’ll find lurking in my heart and the corners of my mind?
Well let’s just say that we may need to extend house cleaning to a few more areas.
What about you?